


what's in a name...

by AnxiousCupcake



Series: half-baked unrelated plot kitties [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien has widdle crush, Humour, I Tried, Plagg and Adrien, Plagg is so tired, a whole lot of dialogue actually, they're in uni, with arttttttt (some)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:55:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27134176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnxiousCupcake/pseuds/AnxiousCupcake
Summary: “Why don’t you call Marinette by her name? Why “Pigtails”?” he asked, peering at Plagg through his glasses.Well, she’s a miraculous holder and calling her by her name is something I’m physically incapable of doing unless I want to be spitting out bubbles.But he couldn’t say that, of course. So instead, the kwami looked at his Chosen with a considerable amount of incredulity. “Because… She wears her hair in pigtails? It’s really that simple, Adrien.”(Or in which Plagg calling both the girls Adrien has a crush on 'Pigtails' is confusing him, and he insists on using a different nickname for Marinette, which escalates into a bet that Plagg has a feeling he might regret accepting.)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: half-baked unrelated plot kitties [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980556
Comments: 30
Kudos: 232





	what's in a name...

**Author's Note:**

> Ignore typos this has not been beta'd :P

“Hey, Plagg?”

“ _ What? _ ” whined the kwami, knowing from Adrien’s tone that this was  _ not  _ going to be fun question. 

“Why don’t you call Marinette by her name? Why “Pigtails”?” he asked, peering at Plagg through his glasses.

_ Well, she’s a miraculous holder and calling her by her name is something I’m physically incapable of doing unless I want to be spitting out bubbles.  _

But he couldn’t say that, of course. So instead, the kwami looked at his Chosen with a considerable amount of incredulity. “Because… She wears her hair in pigtails? It’s really that simple, Adrien.”

_ Ha, if only. _

Adrien scowled. “I  _ know  _ that. She doesn’t wear her hair in pigtails anymore, though.”

“I guess the name just stuck, kid.”

“Call her by her name, will you?” said Adrien in a meek voice, making Plagg quirk his non-existent eyebrow. 

_ This should be interesting.  _ He crossed his tiny arms. “And why should I do that?”

“It’s just… You call Ladybug “Pigtails” too and sometimes I don’t know which one you’re talking about,” muttered Adrien, sliding his glasses back up his nose. 

Plagg didn’t think kwamis could feel hysterical. But here he was. 

“It’s just  _ confusing  _ me, Plagg!” he continued indignantly, the tips of his ear turning red.

_ Another  _ interesting development. Plagg really couldn’t help the amusement. “Are you trying to tell me something, kid?”

“What could I possibly be “trying” to tell you?” grumbled Adrien. 

“Are the pig-tailed girls in your life “confusing” you, Adrien?” asked Plagg slyly.

“There are  _ no  _ pig-tailed “girls” in my life! Just the  _ one _ !” Adrien spluttered, the red from his ears now bleeding into his face. “Besides, Mari doesn’t wear pig-tails anymore.”

“Ah, yes,” nodded Plagg. “The new Ponytail-and-Glasses ™ look that makes your face all blushy. I gotta say, you’ve been particularly intolerable since then.”

“The glasses make her eyes look bigger and bluer, that is all,” he muttered under his breath. Adrien sank into his chair, crossing his arms petulantly before looking away with a pout on his face. “It’s cute."

“Case in point,” gagged Plagg. “ _ Intolerable. _ I deserve cheese from Pigtails for all the pain I have to go through because of her,” he finished with a dramatic sniff. 

Adrien scowled. “ _ There  _ you go again, just call her  _ Mari _ or something, will you? Or  _ Ponytail _ , yeah. That’s fine. Ponytail’s fine.”

“ _ Real  _ fine, I’m sure.”

“ _ Plagg _ .”

“ _ Adrien _ .”

“Why are you being so stubborn!” groaned Adrien.

“And why are  _ you  _ being so  _ dense _ !” wailed the kwami. 

“ _ Dense _ !? People keep  _ saying  _ that,” scoffed Adrien. “How am I being  _ remotely  _ dense! I’m just asking you to stop referring to  _ both  _ Marinette  _ and  _ Ladybug as Pigtails. It’s the  _ same name,  _ Plagg.”

If Plagg was not the kwami of destruction, a.k.a, the _god_ , nay, the _embodiment_ of destruction, he would have been praying to whoever it would have been to take him. Instead, he only pursed his lips. 

“ _ Fine,  _ I’ll call her Spots.”

Adrien cursed. “ _ Which one?” _

“Adrien, which of them wears  _ literal spots _ ?” hissed the kwami. “Do  _ not  _ test my patience!”

“ _ Hey _ , they  _ both  _ do!” said Adrien defensively. “One wears black, the other wears pink!”

Plagg supposed that was fair. “Alright,  _ fine.  _ What do you recommend, my good sir?” he asked mockingly.

“Ponytail?”

“Aw,  _ Adrien _ , it does not have the same ring as  _ Pigtails _ !”

“ _ Plagg.” _

“Alright,  _ fine, _ ” the kwami groaned, before Adrien got too suspicious. He couldn’t tell whether it was a blessing or a curse that the kid was such an unsuspecting ray of sunshine.

Adrien relaxed, spinning in his chair as he stared up at the ceiling. “Great. So we have agreed.”

“Yes.”

“Great.”

“Great.”

There was a lull in the conversation, and just as Plagg was considering flying off to his cheese stash again when - 

“Hey, Plagg?”

Plagg groaned. “What  _ now,  _ kid?”

“I know we agreed that “Ponytail” works fine-”

“Oh, so we’re still talking about her,” muttered Plagg under his breath. “She owes me so much cheese for this.”

“-But why don’t you just call her,  _ Marinette _ ? You know, her  _ name _ . The one she has, given to her parents, that all my friends call her?”

_ I hate how soap bubbles taste _ , would probably not be a viable answer he supposed. Then again, he supposed it  _ would _ but Tikki would kill him. Plagg sighed. 

“I just like nicknames?” Plagg sounded unsure even to himself.

“You call Nino and Alya by their names. And Chloe, over the last few months.”

“Yeah, well, she got better and I didn’t think  _ Blonde She Devil  _ was appropriate anymore,” shrugged Plagg. “Why, want me to go back to that?”

Adrien blinked, tilting his curiously. He could sense a change of subject when he saw one. This was not the first time in this conversation. 

“No,” he said slowly. “First of all, calling Mari ‘Pigtail’ isn’t appropriate anymore. Secondly, why are you changing the subject?”

Plagg stilled before sniffing disdainfully, but Adrien caught the nervous twitch in his ear. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Adrien stared at Plagg with astonishment. “Plagg, why won’t you use Marinette’s real name?”

Plagg glared at Adrien, his green eyes glowing bright as his mind raced for excuses. He settled on the most mundane. 

“Fine, I’ll be honest with you,” said Plagg with faux defeat. “I don’t like how that name rolls off my tongue.”

“Say it,  _ once _ , Plagg,” Adrien replied, eyes narrowed.

“ _ No _ .”

“ _ One time. _ ”

“Absolutely not. I  _ refuse _ .” 

“I see how it is,” said Adrien, slowly.

“Do you, really?” asked Plagg in a bored voice.

Straightening in his chair and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, Adrien declared, “I  _ will  _ find out why you won’t say her name.”

“Just as I suspected,” sighed Plagg. “You  _ don’t  _ see how it is.”

Adrien continued on as if Plagg hadn’t spoken. “ _ And  _ I will  _ make  _ you say it.”

“Is that a challenge, kitten?”

It was funny really. There was no way to win this. Not when he literally could not say her name. 

“Yes, Plagg. Consider yourself challenged.”

“What do I get from this?”

“Three wheels of camembert a week, for one month.”

“Throw in a dozen baked camembert from Pigtails’ bakery every week for two months, and we have a deal.”

“ _ What _ ! She’s going to think I’m insane! I stink enough of camembert as is, no thanks to you!”

“Those are my terms,” sniffed Plagg.

“But  _ Plagg _ , how will I explain and-”

“Deal or no deal.”

“Fine,” Adrien conceded, scowling at Plagg before continuing, “If  _ I _ win, you  _ will  _ refer to Mari by her name.”

“Hey, I thought we agreed on  _ Ponytail _ !” protested Plagg. 

Adrien rolled his eyes. “That was before you refused to just address Marinette by her name.”

“I  _ told you,  _ it just doesn’t roll off my tongue very well!” 

“ _ And  _ you will stop teasing me about her being my girlfriend or- or me having f-feelings for her,” said Adrien. “The non-friendly, very romantic kind that friends should  _ not be  _ feeling for their friends. Platonic.”

“Aw, you’re  _ no fun _ !”

“What, afraid you’re gonna lose, Plagg?”

Plagg floated upwards to stop right in front of Adrien’s face. “You wish. Those wheels of camembert  _ will _ be  _ mine _ !”

Tikki would probably kill him for encouraging this, but could she really blame him? Twelve wheels of camember and 4 dozen baked camemberts were at stake, here. She would do the same for macarons.  _ Probably.  _

Oh, well. He was confident that this would work out in his favour anyway, and Tikki would never have to know.

It all goes downhill for Plagg very fast, when Adrien, as Chat Noir, tells his “Princess” of the bet. He was sure that the little piece of macaron that had hit Chat Noir on the head out of nowhere, (which Pigtails very successfully distracted him from) was meant as a dire warning specially for him.

He could only hope Tikki understood...

(Spoiler Alert: She didn’t.)

...And that his chosen would continue on with his oblivious ways. 

(Double Spoiler Alert: He didn't.)

* * *

**Adrien's look if you're curious:**

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely did NOT write in the glasses just to fit in the art I made. Nope. 
> 
> Anyways, this has been on my mind ever since that whole "Bubbles if they try to say their name" thing. I might just turn this into a whole Marichat & Adrinette fic, with more details on the build up, the reveal and all of that, but for now, this just needed to get out of my system, hence why its part of the "half baked plot kitties" series ("baked" and "kitties" instead of "bunnies" haha, get it? Aren't I hilarious.)
> 
> If you have ideas or want to discuss the show, chew my head off on [Tumblr](https://theanxiouscupcake.tumblr.com/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/anxiouscupcake_) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/theanxiouscupcake_/) !!!


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